


Halloween in Arcadia

by im_the_king_of_the_ocean



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Ghosts, Halloween, Multi, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Prompt Fic, Scary Stories, Spooky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 04:08:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17676191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/im_the_king_of_the_ocean
Summary: Snippets written as Halloween prompts in October 2018, includes scary stories, possession, ghosts, some fluff, and cuddles.





	1. Spooky House (blarrghy)

“Where can we hide this body?” was a question Blinky had never thought he’d have to ask in his entire life.Of course, it wasn’t a real body.The very thought!How preposterous.No, the body in question was a fake one made with magic and, if he did say so himself, expert craftsmanship.It looked wondrously real.The blood oozed splendidly and the bones had rigid cracks that were sure to horrify quite a few.Its “flesh” was half falling off in parts and, thanks to a lovely little charm from RotGuts, smelled disgusting.

“Behind the skeletons?”Arrrgh!!! asked pointing to where they’d set up a quartet of abominations that combined (fake) humans bones with (fake) troll stone.

Blinky shook his head.“No, not that.This is our masterpiece, Arrrgh!!! It has to be carefully put in the absolute best location.Otherwise we’ll never _win_.I don’t know about you, but I _saw_ Claire and NotEnrique’s setup and, if we want any hope of defeating _that_ in this “scariness” contest, we have to do our very best.”

“Hmm.”Arrrgh looked around their ‘haunted house’.“Up there?”He pointed to a shadowy nook by what they had as their front door.

“Perfect!”Blinky grinned wildly.“We just need to light it properly to maximize shadows in the right places and then ours will surely be the spookiest house in the neighborhood!”

After they finished setting up the fake body, the two trolls inspected their work.From the tombstones to the fake body itself, everything looked marvelous.

“Today, we will win.”Blinky said.“For certainly, there is none more horrifying than what we have done here.And tomorrow—”

“We give candy!”Arrrgh!!! interrupted happily.For that was the plan.The night before Halloween, they all tried to scare each other as completely as possible.Then, the night of Halloween itself, they toned down their setups so the kids who came trick-or-treating wouldn’t get too scared.It worked out perfectly for Blinky and Arrrgh!!!, who both got to do something they love, whether that be scaring or sharing sweets.

The trolls pressed their foreheads together.It would be a good couple of nights.


	2. Scary Stories (marynon)

Mary clicked on her flashlight and held it under her chin.“Have you ever heard of what happened in this building?”

Shannon giggled.

“You can’t _giggle_ , Shannon, that ruins the _mood_.”Mary huffed.“The entire point of a scary story is that they’re _scary_.”

“I know.I know.”Shannon blushed.“But your, um, you’re really cute when you hold the flashlight like that.”

Mary smiled at her girlfriend.“Oh, thank you.”Then her expression turned serious.“But no more giggling.Otherwise the ghosts will rise from beyond the grave and haunt us FOREVER!”She reached up toward the ceiling dramatically.

Shannon giggled again, but quickly stopped herself.She put her hands in her lap.

Mary glanced at her, half-expecting another interrupted, but there was none.She started her scary story again, only for Shannon to _now_ interrupt.

“Mary?”

“Yeah?”

“If this is going to be a really _scary_ story, don’t you think…” Shannon rubbed her finger into the ground.“Don’t you think we should cuddle up, so the ghosts can’t sneak up on us?”

“Hmm.”Mary tapped her flashlight against her chin.“You make a very good point.And if we cuddle up under the blanket, the ghosts will think we’re really one massive monster.They won’t dare mess with us then!”

“And if we drink the hot cocoa, it will have steam, so they’ll think we’re like a dragon.Then they’ll want to leave us alone even more!” Shannon added excitedly.

In the end, they spent the entire night in their sleeping bags with lots of extra blankets and hot cocoa, curled up and telling each other spooky stories that didn’t really scare them because they had each other.


	3. Movie Night (possessed!Jim)

“How many times do I have to tell you?No summoning demons in the house!”Toby ducks a flying chair.“How many times?That’s not rhetorical, I seriously want to know!”

“It was an accident!”Claire yells back from her place by the bookshelf, where she’s frantically searching through various texts for something that will help them.“We didn’t mean to—”

“Oh yes,”Jim—or rather, demon-possessed Jim—interrupts.He jumped up on the couch like a spider.“We did.After millennia of being trapped, I am finally free!”He attempts a demonic laugh, but Jim’s voice isn’t really made for that sort of thing, so it doesn’t exactly work out.

“No, you’re not!You’re going to give us Jimbo back!”Toby chucks a pillow at his possessed friend.

“Never!”

“Found it!”Claire yells triumphantly.She chants something in trollish out of a book.

There’s a flash and what sounds like a thunderclap.Immediately after, all is still and silent.

Then, Jim sits up from where he landed on the floor.“Ugggh.I have the _worst_ headache.What happened?”

“You are never being left alone with one of Blinky’s books unsupervised ever again. _That’s_ what happened.”Toby told him with a huff.Abruptly, he grins, “Well, enjoy the rest of your date night!I’m going home.”

“Movie night?”Jim asks.

“Movie night.”Claire answers.


	4. The Scottish Curse (jlaire)

“Have you ever heard of what happened in this building?”Claire asks after switching her flashlight on.

“No, Claire, I have not heard anything other than what you’ve already told me about this building that I’ve never been in or thought of before in my life,” Jim answers dryly.“Why are we here again?”

“To prove we can outlast Steve and Eli.Jim, we accepted the dare less than an hour ago and you _were there._ ”

Jim rolls his eyes.“I know, but don’t you think Eli would have freaked out by now?I mean, _look_ at this place.”He gestures to the old, run-down theater around them.Cobwebs, dust, and long, dark, echo-y passages are everywhere.“If we head outside, we’ll probably find them there waiting for us.”

“Don’t tell me someone’s _scared_.”Claire laughs.“The half-troll who took on Gunmar?Seriously, whatever ghosts are here, they’re probably more freaked out by you than you are of them.”

Jim snorts.“Yeah, well, I don’t really believe anyone met an unfortunate fate all because you say someone said Ma—”

“NO!”Claire shouted.“Jim, I swear to god if you say _that name_ I will break up with you.”

“Oh, come one, don’t tell me you actually believed Steve when he said—”

“It’s not _Steve_ , Jim.”Claire scowls.“It’s a legit thing and if you’d actually made it to more rehearsals back when we did _Romeo and Juliet_ , you would know it’s a pretty big deal in the theater world.We.Do.Not.Say.That.Name.In. _Theaters_.Especially not creepy haunted theaters!”

“Or what, some ghost is going to come back from beyond and haunt us?Claire, I’ve met ghosts.Okay, they’re kind of jerks, but they can’t really do anything to us.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” said the ghost who appears right behind Jim.


	5. Under a Waxing Moon (ajaire)

_SLAM_!

For an instant, all the crickets chirping fall silent.They wait for the impending danger, but nothing attacks them.They return to their nightly chirping routine, nonplussed.They ignore the teenage girl who storms out of one of the peaceful-looking houses and marches down the street in a huff.

“It’s just one concert! _One_ concert!”The girl yells at the night, throwing out her arms in front of her.“It’s not like I ask for a lot or anything.Oh, wait.I _never_ ask for _anything_!Because I’m a GOOD DAUGHTER!”She screams back at the house she so recently departed.

The girl sighs, shoves her hands in her pockets, and continues on her way.Without really looking where she’s going, she heads toward the old cemetery.She picks the lock easily (she’s done it numerous times before), enters, and finds the ancient maple tree she usually sits under when she’s upset.

Claire sighs and pulls her knees up to her chest.It isn’t fair.Nothing is fair.Not in her life, at least.She doesn’t mind watching her baby brother, Enrique, on occasion.She loves him.But the frequency at which her parents ask her to made her feel like his third parent sometimes.She’s only fifteen!She’s a kid—teen—too!She’d told them about the Papa Skulls concert _weeks_ ago.They’d said she could go if she kept up her grades.And she did!

Yet, all because this random, stupid fundraiser came up that her mother just has to go to for her stupid re-election campaign, suddenly, no, Claire can’t go to the concert she’s been looking forward to for ages.She has to stay home and watch her baby brother cause they don’t want to get a babysitter.

It.Isn’t.Fair.

She pressed her forehead against her knees and screams, which doesn’t make her feel any better.Claire groans.

“Uh, excuse me, don’t mean to be a bother, but would you mind moving just a little?”

Claire looks up.There’s a girl standing—or, wait, is she _floating_?—there.

The girl offers Claire an awkward little smile and a wave.“You’re, um, I can see that you’re, um, you’re in the middle of something, but—I’m sorry, I don’t want to seem rude, but I need to get into the ground under you.”

“What?”Claire blinks.

The girl mimics a sighing motion.“Never the matter, I’ll just—”She floats toward and _into_ the ground.She reappears a moment later, with what appears to be some kind of ghostly dog-creature.“There we go.”The girl gives the dog-creature a good scratch behind the ears.“Sorry.”She turns back to Claire, “But he’s only allowed out when the moon is waxing.Ghost rules and all that.” 

“Oh, okay.So, you are a ghost too?”Claire asks.Is that a rude question?She’s pretty sure that’s a rude question.

The girl cocks her head curiously to the side.Her silvery hair tumbles over one shoulder.“Are you a visitor?”Her voice gets excited.“It’s been ages since we’ve had a visitor or anyone to talk to.Do you want to talk?I can tell you all about being a ghost!It’s really dull most of the time.Nothing to do.Haunting got boring after a while.Oh, but I can tell you all about this time three centuries ago, when me and my brother haunted this really grumpy old man.He rests two cemeteries that away now.”She gestured with her hand.

“That would be cool?”Claire says uncertainly.She doesn’t want to go back home.Not yet.She’s never talked to a ghost in all her time of coming here, either.“I’m Claire, by the way.”

“My name’s Aja.”The ghost says.

Claire smiles.“Nice to meet you, Aja.”

Aja settles down hovering just a few centimeters off the ground.

They talk until dawn, when Aja has to return to her resting place.


End file.
